Motor City sports teams have burned through 12 coaches and managers in 5 years and the only real hope right now is the Detroit Lions. God help us.
And you thought the long Michigan winter was bad.
As you know by now, the Detroit Pistons fired Stan Van Gundy on Monday. And while that might make you happy as a fan that wants the Pistons to move on after several debacles by the former coach and president, there’s no way you can be happy about the state of the Pistons right now.
This is the Pistons’ seventh coaching change in 13 years. Seventh. They haven’t won a playoff game in a decade. They probably won’t have a first-round draft pick this June. And they’re stuck with several massive contracts that are likely untradeable such as Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond.
And this all just the tip of the iceberg regarding Detroit sports. Because as you’re about to find out, winter has come in the Motor City — and “Game of Thrones” may be long gone by the time we’re out of this.
We wrote in January 2017 — 16 months ago — that we were in the worst Detroit sports championship slump in decades. More importantly, we wrote it doesn’t look like we are coming out of it anytime soon.
That hasn’t changed.
Since the 2013 Detroit Tigers lost to the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series (sorry to remind you), Detroit professional sports have completed 19 consecutive seasons without a conference finals appearance.
That might not seem like a lot to you, but consider this: The Washington Capitals ended a 71-season streak of such futility Monday night by beating the Pittsburgh Penguins and reaching the conference finals, the first D. C. team to do so since 1998.
That means the four-sport city with the longest streak without a conference finals appearance is Dallas at 27 seasons.
In second place? Detroit at 19 seasons.
Let’s pour more salt on the wound while we’re at it.
Given that the Pistons are undergoing yet another coaching (and management) change, and given that the Red Wings and Tigers are rebuilding and probably won’t compete for a conference title for several years, that leaves the Detroit Lions as the only hope to snap that streak — you know, the team that’s won one playoff game since 1957.
So unless the Red Sea parts, Hell freezes over and pigs begin to fly, this streak of futility is going to go on for a while, possibly long enough for Dallas to snap its own streak and leave Detroit all alone at the top.
Well, at least Detroit would be No. 1 at something.
If you follow us on Twitter at @freepsports (if not, why don’t you?), you may have seen this tweet on Monday, shortly after Van Gundy’s ousting:
That list includes, in order: Mike Babcock, Lawrence Frank, Jim Leyland, Jim Schwartz, Maurice Cheeks, Brad Ausmus, Jim Caldwell, John Loyer (interim), Stan Van Gundy, Jeff Blashill, Ron Gardenhire and Matt Patricia. The Pistons’ next hire will make No. 13.
Ron Gardenhire — who’s managed 34 games with the Tigers — is now the second-longest tenured Detroit coach/manager. That hasn’t happened that quickly since… Brad Ausmus in 2014.
Look, we all know Detroit is the greatest sports town in America. And there’s hope. There always is. The Lions went 9-7 the past two seasons and GM Bob Quinn got his man in coach Matt Patricia this off-season. The Lions might be one solid, healthy season away from finally winning a playoff game.
But the fact that we’re banking on the Lions, of all teams, to save this sports town kind of says it all, doesn’t it?
Complain about the state of Detroit sports to Brian Manzullo: bmanzullo@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrianManzullo.
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